


Ask Me No Questions

by sajastar



Series: Venom is an Astronaut [2]
Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Canon-Typical Cannibalism, Dialogue Heavy, Gen, I mean it doesn't specifically contradict canon, Implied/Referenced Torture, Venom is competent and smart 2020, non-canon backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:02:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22906714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sajastar/pseuds/sajastar
Summary: Eddie and Venom bicker over different approaches to interrogation.
Relationships: Eddie Brock & Venom Symbiote
Series: Venom is an Astronaut [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1646476
Comments: 6
Kudos: 80





	Ask Me No Questions

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to [Bakageta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bakageta/pseuds/Bakageta) and [StarryEden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarryEden/pseuds/StarryEden) for betaing! Also, thank you to Bakageta for prompting this and brainstorming ideas with me! You guys are the best.
> 
> This fic references [Venom vs. Technology](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20034682), but you don't need to have read that fic to follow this one.
> 
> It/its pronouns for Venom.
> 
> CW: torture. It's only mentioned, but if fictional torture is really upsetting to you this is probably not your fic. Also, CW for eye injuries.

**_“WHERE DO YOU GET THE WEAPONS,”_ **Venom snarled. 

“I don’t know what you’re—what weapons?” The gangly man dangled from their clawed grip, shoes stretching to find solid ground.

Venom growled, a low vibration that rumbled throughout their body rather than coming from any vocal apparatus.

The man just hyperventilated.

**_“THE CHITAURI GUNS. WE KNOW YOU SELL THEM, PAYNE. WE WATCHED YOU.”_ **

“I don’t know. I just found them! They were scrap!” Payne pleaded.

 ** _“NO ONE SHIPPED THEM ALL THE WAY FROM NEW YORK TO CALIFORNIA TO LEAVE THEM IN A DUMPSTER. DO NOT LIE TO US, YOU IDIOTIC MOLERAT."_** They lifted him a little higher so that he lost contact with the floor and let their tongue flick out to swipe his face. 

“I don’t know why they left ‘em! I don’t— I—” He grimaced and tried to lean away from their tongue. 

Venom liked to play with their food, but they were getting fed up with this. They did not _ask_ for information. They took it.

They extended two tendrils to the man’s face. One grabbed his hair tightly, holding his head still, while the other found his eye. Payne screamed as it started to worm its way under his eyelid, moving towards the optic nerve at the back.

No, this wasn’t right. This wasn’t how they did things. Yes, it was. They had done this all their life. Lives? There was a moment of confusion before they felt themself stretch and snap in two. 

_Fuck._

**FUCK.**

_What the hell was that?_

**GETTING INFORMATION.**

_I thought we were going to ask him questions, not eat his brain._

**WE WERE ONLY INTERROGATING HIM. THERE WILL BE TIME FOR BRAIN-EATING LATER.** Venom felt Payne's eyeball swivel to stare at them and realized they had frozen mid-brain invasion. **WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS AT HOME.**

 _No, we can’t,_ Eddie said stubbornly. _Hunting's one thing; we're not gonna torture this guy to death slowly. Information from torture isn’t even accurate—_ he flashed memories of research he’d done for past stories at Venom— _and a lobotomy sure as hell isn't gonna help his recall._

 **DO YOU THINK I AM AN AMATEUR,** Venom shot back. **I WOULD NOT BE SO CLUMSY.**

_Just let me handle this. Finding out shit is my job._

**IT WAS MINE, TOO.**

_Tagging along on my investigations is not the same thing._

**I AM NOT AN EXTENSION OF YOU,** Venom seethed. **I HAVE MY OWN SKILLS.**

_What, flying spaceships? Yeah, real helpful in tracking down criminals._

“Are you going to eat my face?” Payne whimpered.

 **“SHUT UP,”** Venom hissed. **BOTH OF YOU.** Venom poured their tendril through the optic canal, pressed it through the fragile layer of bone and the protective membranes before letting it spread across the brain, winding down sulci and melting into the thin gray matter.

It had been a long time since it had done this: seizing control of an unfamiliar nervous system, skimming through the thoughts and memories, extracting the ones it needed, putting them into context. The whole process took around twenty seconds—clearly, Venom was out of practice. Back in the day, finding complex information in a split second from a totally unknown species had been the difference between life and death, keeping them from falling into a gravity well or shooting into a star at supralight speed.

Eddie, still wrapped in Venom's mass, gasped when the flood of information hit his brain: names, dates, places, prices. Venom extracted itself from Payne and double-checked their bond. Extending itself to another mind had stretched its connection with Eddie, but hadn’t damaged it. Venom hadn’t completely lost its touch. It gave Eddie another minute to process the memory dump while Payne lay groaning on the floor.

 **_NOW_ ** **WE EAT.**

 _How did you do that?_ Eddie reeled.

**OH LOOK, I AM USEFUL AFTER ALL.**

_Okay, first of all, I'm sorry. You told me and I didn’t believe you. Second of all, astronaut, my ass. That was… I don’t know what that was._

**KLYNTAR DO NOT BUILD SHIPS, EDDIE,** Venom relented. 

_So?_

**WE HIJACK THEM.**

_You had to take over the original pilots. Use their training,_ Eddie realized.

**YES. I HAD PILOTING SKILL OF MY OWN, BUT I NEEDED THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF THE SHIP. HOW TO CONTROL IT, HOW TO REPAIR IT.**

_That's fucking amazing._

**IT WAS NOT A VALUED SKILL,** Venom said dryly.

_What? Why not?_

**IT REQUIRES BONDING. IN SOME CASES, DEEPLY, THOUGH THAT WAS NOT NECESSARY TODAY.**

_Ah._

**THAT IS WHY I WAS ONLY CO-PILOT. AGONY KNEW FUCKALL ABOUT FLYING, BUT IT WAS A BETTER KLYNTAR.**

_You were not kidding about Klyntar NASA involving a lot of fights to the death._

Venom looked at Payne, lying on the floor, and felt a flash of gratitude that it could rejoin Eddie, have a conversation, hunt as a pair, and go home to peace and quiet, instead of constantly battling an enemy host. **IT IS… CONVENIENT. TALKING INSTEAD OF ALWAYS TAKING.**

Eddie smiled. He hadn’t missed the feelings behind the words and he sent Venom a sense of warmth in answer.

He took control of their legs to prod Payne with a toe. _I’m glad I wasn’t on the other end of_ that _, that’s for sure._ The man stirred and groaned. _Is he brain-dead?_

 **HE WOULD RECOVER, GIVEN THE CHANCE.** Venom did not intend to give him the chance. **IT IS LATER,** it pointed out.

 _That it is._ Eddie pulled Venom closer in the bond and they brought Payne’s head to their mouth as one.

**Author's Note:**

> The research Eddie references about [the inefficacy of torture for information-gathering](https://scripttorture.tumblr.com/post/160456071389/interrogation-as-torture) was inspired by ScriptTorture's blog on tumblr, which I highly recommend.


End file.
